Friday, September 26, 2008

Car Trouble

My daughter called me last night on her way home from work to tell me that her car was shaking whenever she was at a stop and the "Check Engine" light had come on. I told her to go to the mechanic, tell them all about it, and I'd meet her there.

She had finished describing her car woes to the shop guys when I got there, and on the way home, she said she thought she had smelled oil. It sounded expensive. Very expensive. I imagined leaking head gaskets, and the hope that they'd call my ex (like last time) when it was time for a payment flashed through my mind (he started taking the Honda to that mechanic for my daughter while I was on my trip with my mom, so he's their usual contact).

We left it for overnight, and this morning I dropped my daughter off at her class. Then I picked her up when class was over. She had a couple hours before she had to get to work, so we stopped for a bite to eat to kill time.

The shop called my daughter's cell phone, and I tried to get a feel for how expensive it was going to be by her half of the conversation.

"It's dry? You mean there's no oil?" Oh darn! That could be a whole new engine! Or a new transmission if that's what's dry.

After she hung up, she told me they hadn't found anything wrong. We had just enough time to pick up the car from the shop so she could drive herself to work.

At the shop, the guy explained. The Check Engine light came on, and the code told them there had been a random missed firing in one of the pistons. Not a problem. They checked all the settings, and the rough idle wasn't rough enough to require any adjustments.

The engine was dry. On the outside. He said that, for a vehicle with 111,000 miles, it was amazingly free of any leaks. It's in fine shape, and if the idle gets noticeably worse, then maybe she should bring the car back in.

My daughter thought she still felt roughness in her car over the weekend, which made her nervous, so she and I swapped cars for going to church (her church is farther away than mine). I didn't feel anything bad when I drove her car. Any roughness was within normal limits, so I gave her car a clean bill of health for her to drive, and she was relieved.

God is still good! Of course, He'd still be good even if the car was broken.